JAHA is pleased to reopen our museums the week of Jan. 4, after the expiration of Gov. Wolf’s temporary mitigation orders. The Johnstown Flood Museum is open Wed.-Sat. from 10 am-5 pm, and Sun. noon-5 pm. The Heritage Discovery Center/Johnstown Children’s Museum is open 10 am-5 pm Thurs., Fri., and Sat. All visitors and staff are required to wear masks and practice social distancing. Please visit the children’s museum COVID protocols page for more information specific to that museum. Welcome back!

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Schedule

Welcome to the Johnstown Slavic Festival 2019!

Visit our performer lineup page for more about the entertainment!

We gratefully acknowledge our sponsors, who enable us to keep the festival FREE.

In particular, we are grateful to our presenting sponsors, Best Window & Door Company and Barry and MaryAnn Ritko, and major sponsors 1st Summit Bank; AmeriServ Trust and Financial Services Company; IMAC; ProVia; JWF Industries; Robert Ramos, Wealth Management Partners; William Penn Association; and Discover Downtown Johnstown/Vision 2025.

Entertainment: Mainstage

Friday, Sept. 20

4:00: Festival opens (no food sales prior to open)

5:00-7:00: Polka Floyd

7:30-9:30: Bombici

 

Saturday, Sept. 21

noon: Festival opens (no food sales prior to open)

1:00-2:00: Balkan Babes

2:00-3:30: Nutroll contest

2:30-3:30: DANKA performance

3:30-4:00: DANKA dance instruction

4:00-5:30: Pajtasi

6:00-9:00: Orkestar Zabava

Entertainment: Courtyard Stage

Saturday, Sept. 21

12:30-2:30: Joe Malloy, accordion

2:45-3:45: Jacob Czerak, accordion

 

Speaker Presentations: Education Center

Sat., Sept. 21

12:30-1:30 — Dean Poloka: Carpatho-Rusyn Dances Explained: Carpatho-Rusyn dance choreographer Dean Poloka will talk about traditional Carpatho-Ruysn dances from the homeland in the Carpathian Mountains (pictured) as well as influences from neighboring cultures. He has been a choreographer of Carpatho-Rusyn dances for over 25 years with the Slavjane Folk Ensemble of McKees Rocks, PA. Since the early 1990s, Dean has researched and studied traditional Carpatho-Rusyn music, song, and dance with various folk ensembles in Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine.

2:15-3:15: Aaron Rovan: Johnstown’s Slavic Catholic Women and the Importance of Folk Religion:  While we often think of religious traditions as those practiced inside a church or a house of worship, religious practices extend into the home.  Through traditions such as cooking and serving holiday meals to maintaining shrines and sacramentals in their homes, Slavic Catholic women have exemplified the importance of these informal, folk religious traditions. Through their practice of these traditions, Slavic Catholic women have maintained their ethnic community’s identity in the Johnstown region. This presentation will discuss some of these folk traditions and propose some ways that these informal religious practices have affected Catholic women’s secular relationships within their community.

3:45-4:45 pm: Rob Sivec, The Slavic Miners of Windber

 

Cooking Demonstrations: Galliker's Cafe

Saturday, Sept. 21:

12:30-1:30: Joanne Todorich, demonstrating Palacinke, or Croatian-Serbian pancakes. These thin, crepe-like pancakes can be savory (filled with meat, or vegetables), or sweet (with jam, fruit, or cheese).

 

Admission to the Heritage Discovery Center is free during the event.

Admission to the Heritage Discovery Center/Johnstown Children’s Museum is FREE during the festival!